Manchester United vs Everton team news and match preview
Man Utd have found some form in recent weeks, but one player has struggled throughout.
United agreed to pay an initial £42 million fee to sign the 24-year-old from Paris Saint-Germain a year ago, but he has struggled to nail down a regular role in the starting line up. Ugarte did not appear to be a comfortable fit under Erik ten Hag and has been unable to improve under former Sporting Lisbon mentor Ruben Amorim either.
Ugarte has made 10 appearances for United this season, but has started just three matches. It is also an unfortunate quirk that United have lost every match he has started this campaign. The Uruguay international is behind veteran Casemiro in the pecking order, and even head coach Amorim admits he needs to show signs of improvement soon.
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Ugarte 'needs to improve'
Manuel Ugarte is expected to be named on the bench when Manchester United host Everton in the Premier League on Monday night and will have to wait his time to earn a starting role again.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Ruben Amorim was quizzed on Ugarte and whether he was surprised by his low performance level. "No, I understand. If, again.. you are here longer than me, and you can sense that a lot of very good players come here, and sometimes they struggle, and they are struggling, he is struggling in the moment," Amorim said.
"But it is our job to try to help our players, and again, everything can change, and you saw it five weeks ago, the environment was completely different, so I know that Ugarte is struggling in the moment, and my job is trying to help him to feel as a player, like I felt when he was a sporting player, for example, but it is a different world, and he needs to adapt, and he needs to improve, especially in training."
United are expected to be in the market for at least two midfielders next year in the next stage of their rebuild but Amorim also wants to see more from those already at the club. Asked if a midfield refresh was his priority, he added: "It is hard to say that, but I think we can add in the future, I don't know when, different characteristics, the same thing that our thinking in front, sometimes it is not the quality of the players, it is the characteristics of the players, and we can improve in some areas in our club, but I am happy with the guys that we have in the moment, and I think they have so much more to give, so it is my job to think about them, not the other guys that are not here."
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